Texting while driving is an annoying problem that we're going to be stuck with for another couple of decades - until self-driving cars become both normal and ubiquitous. And while it is scientifically proven that only twats play with their phone while behind the wheel, we still need to do something about it, lest their poor behaviour accidentally kill other, law-abiding people.

And this is where a company called Racelogic thinks it has found an elegant solution. TouchLock is a device that sits beneath the drivers seat and detects when the vehicle is motion. If it's moving, it sends a small electrical signal through the driver's body. Then, if the phone detects said signal, it will remain locked until the vehicle is stationary.

What's especially clever is that this would mean it would still be fine for passengers to use the phone, because the signal wouldn't be detected in them.

It also uses mostly already existing technology: The signal it sends is actually NFC - the same tech used for contactless payments and the like, so is already built into most phones. For it to work, all phone manufacturers would have to do would be to update the software to pick up the signal.

The slightly trickier problem for RaceLogic is selling the idea to car companies, who would need to include a new box in their cars if it is to have any wider adoption. And we rather suspect that if these devices did become commonplace, lead-lined trousers would suddenly become popular amongst the reckless.